Price of Apple’s New AirPods Throws Consumers for a Loop

Apple customers weren't expecting the new over-the-ear headphones to be released Tuesday, and they certainly weren't expecting the price: $549. The AirPods Max are wireless and connect with Bluetooth to an iPhone, computer, or other device that holds music, Ars Technica reports. There are all sorts of sensors. Nine microphones help provide "computational audio": one just for voice and the others mostly for noise cancellation. Their case puts the AirPods in a low-power sleep mode and includes a Lightning port for charging. The design maintains that Apple look. Orders are now being taken. But again, $549.

That's a price the internet can mock. It's more than the cost of a PlayStation 5, per Newsweek. It's about what a studio apartment in Albuquerque rents for, Mashable pointed out. With no word yet on how they sound, the headphones' price point dominated the conversation. "Sorry, I can't hear you," a CNBC tech editor tweeted. "My AirPods Max automatically mute poor people." The headphones come in space gray, silver, green, sky blue, or pink. The first buyers should receive theirs next week. Engraving is optional. (More Apple stories.)